Jewish Home Lifecare

In April 2015, NYELJP filed a hybrid Article 78 petition challenging the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) issued by NYSDOH during the approval process for JHL’s 20-story nursing home at 125 West 97th Street. Through use as a parking lot area, this site had become a brownfield, the excavation of which would expose the nearby residents and school to many harmful chemicals (eg., lead, arsenic, barium). In December, the NY Supreme Court ruled in favor of NYELJP, finding that the DOH “did not take the requisite hard look at specific environmental issues” mandated by the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), vacating and annulling the prior DOH approval and ordering that the DOH reconsider its findings on noise and hazardous materials. The applicant and developer, but not the DOH, chose to appeal this ruling–outcome pending.

In November 2015, NYELJP filed suit in state court to challenge the BSA’s October 2015 decision that JHL’s proposed nursing facility met the “open space” requirements of the City Zoning Regulations (ZR). JHL counted rooftop space that is inaccessible to many residents as “open space”, despite the ZR making clear that open space must be accessible to all residents on a zoning lot. JHL relied on an exception created in a 2009 BSA case where open space was equitably distributed across buildings, an exception we contend was obsoleted by 2011 amendments to the ZR which replaced the term “building” with “zoning lot” in defining open space. The NY Supreme Court found that the interpretation JHL wants was within BSA’s discretion because the issue involves agency expertise. We are appealing the decision.